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Spencer Smythe

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Spencer Smythe
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Amazing Spider-Man #25 (June 1965)
Created byStan Lee
Steve Ditko
In-story information
SpeciesHuman
PartnershipsJ. Jonah Jameson (formerly)
Abilities

Spencer Smythe (/smaɪθ/) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an adversary of the superhero Spider-Man as well as the father of Alistair Smythe. A scientist researching robotics and arachnids, he turned to crime to finance his research, and dedicated his life to capturing Spider-Man. He is best known for creating the Spider-Slayers, robots designed specifically to hunt down, capture, or kill the web-slinger.

The character has appeared in several Spider-Man adaptations, including animated series and video games.

Publication history

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Spencer Smythe and the Spider-Slayers first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #25 (June 1965), and were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko.[1]

Fictional character biography

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Spencer Smythe is an expert in robotics and arachnids who asked J. Jonah Jameson to fund his projects, having been convinced by Jameson's editorials that Spider-Man was a menace. After watching a demonstration showing that Smythe's robot could sense and track spiders, Jameson hired Smythe to capture Spider-Man. Jameson himself controlled the robot, meaning that Spider-Man was chased by a machine with Jameson's face. However, the web-slinger escaped by leaving the Spider-Man suit wrapped in the robot's tentacles.[2]

Annoyed at his robot's inability to capture Spider-Man, Smythe began to obsess over Spider-Man, turning to crime to finance his research and constantly improving his robots which he dubbed Spider-Slayers.[3][4] But his creations, no matter how deadly or powerful he made, were always defeated by Spider-Man utilizing a key flaw in their designs.[5]

Eventually, Smythe is fatally poisoned by the radioactive materials used in the robots' manufacturing and attempts to kill Spider-Man and Jameson with a bomb.[6][7] However, Spider-Man stops the bomb by freezing its controls moments before its detonation.[8]

After Spencer's death, his son Alistair Smythe inherited the Spider-Slayer legacy.[9]

During the Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy storyline, Spencer is "reanimated" in a clone body (with his soul intact) by Ben Reilly's company New U Technologies,[10] but is later killed again.[11]

Skills and abilities

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Spencer Smythe is quite intelligent, capable of designing advanced robots that could pursue solitary targets. These robots were physically dangerous enough to overpower Spider-Man at multiple points, but they lacked A.I. software.

In other media

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Television

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  • A character inspired by Spencer Smythe named Henry Smythe appears in the Spider-Man (1967) episode "Captured by J. Jonah Jameson", voiced by Henry Ramer. Similarly to Spencer, he is the creator of the Spider-Slayers.
  • Spencer Smythe appears in Spider-Man (1994), voiced by Edward Mulhare.[12] He is enlisted by Norman Osborn to capture Spider-Man in exchange for building a hover-chair for his paralyzed son Alistair Smythe. Spencer creates his first Spider-Slayer, the Black Widow, to achieve this, but its fight with Spider-Man leads to a fire at Oscorp. With Osborn's negative reinforcement, Spencer stays behind to ensure Spider-Man dies and Alistair gets the hover-chair, but is seemingly killed when Oscorp explodes. Later in the series, it is revealed that Spencer survived and was put into cryogenic suspension by the Kingpin to ensure Alistair's loyalty. Alistair eventually discovers Spencer and recovers him with Spider-Man's help before working for various resourceful individuals to revive his father.
  • Spencer Smythe appears in Spider-Man (2017), voiced by Benjamin Diskin.[12] This version is a strict science teacher at Midtown High School and Alistair Smythe's estranged father. Throughout the series, he is hired by Norman Osborn to sabotage Anya Corazon's experiment and frame Harry Osborn to get him suspended from Midtown High and attempts to steal Harry's work with the Vulture's help, only for Spider-Man to destroy it. Norman reneges on their deal, leading to Spencer working with Raymond Warren to steal Oscorp's genetically modified spiders. After one specimen escapes, bites Miles Morales, and turns him into the Ultimate Spider-Man, Spencer fights Alistair to capture him. Both are defeated by the two Spider-Men, though only Spencer is arrested while his son escapes.

Video games

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  • Spencer Smythe appears in the PS2 and PSP versions of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. This version is aligned with A.I.M. and the Jackal, with the former helping him in his secret experiments and the latter eventually betraying him upon learning Smythe intends to find a way to control invading symbiotes.
  • Spencer Smythe appears in Marvel Heroes.
  • Spencer Smythe replaces Alistair in the Nintendo 3DS version of The Amazing Spider-Man. Similarly to his son in other versions of the game, he utilizes multiple Spider-Slayers and robots in failed attempts to kill Spider-Man and Curt Connors.

References

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  1. ^ DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 338. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
  2. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #105
  3. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #106–107
  4. ^ Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. p. 6. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
  5. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #107
  6. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #186
  7. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #190
  8. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #192
  9. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 19
  10. ^ Clone Conspiracy #2
  11. ^ Spine-Tingling Spider-Man Infinity Comic #4
  12. ^ a b "Spencer Smythe Voices (Spider-Man)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved August 22, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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